Charlotte

The Charlotte Checkers will return to Bojangles' Coliseum in 2015-16 if the city agrees to spend $16 million in renovations. That's $4 million more than the city had already planned to spend on coliseum upgrades, and an agreement would represent the first time public funds have subsidized the minor-league hockey team, which has played at uptown's Time Warner Cable Arena since 2005.

Atlanta-based Novare Group said it has acquired land in uptown Charlotte and will begin construction on a second SkyHouse apartment tower next year. A two-story motel will be demolished by year-end to make way for the project. Construction on the first phase of SkyHouse Uptown, a 24-story, $63 million tower, is expected to be completed in mid-2015.

Dollar Tree CEO Bob Sasser said Thursday he expects federal antitrust regulators will approve his company's proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of Matthews-based Family Dollar Stores without requiring it to divest too many stores. The companies agreed to sell as many as 500 stores, though Sasser told analysts he expects that number will be smaller, which could make the deal more attractive to shareholders.

Compensation for leaders of Charlotte's three economic-development groups increased in 2013, according to recent tax filings. Charlotte Chamber President Bob Morgan earned $404,368, up 2% over the previous year, while Michael Smith of Charlotte Center City Partners saw a pay increase of 8% and Ronnie Bryant of the Charlotte Regional Partnership received a 5% raise.

Matthews-based Family Dollar Stores rescheduled a shareholder vote on its planned acquisition by Chesapeake, Va.-based Dollar Tree to allow the Federal Trade Commission more time to review the deal. The vote on the $8.5 billion deal is now scheduled for Dec. 23. Family Dollar's stock remained above $78 a share Wednesday, higher than Dollar Tree's offer price of $74.50 a share.

Federal prosecutors have filed additional charges against a Cornelius-based payroll company accused of defrauding more than 100 clients. James William Staz of Iron Station and his father, William James Staz of Huntersville, are accused of stealing more than $11 million from at least 113 clients of Employee Services Net. The new charges bring the total number of counts to 16.

Bank of America ranked lowest among large U.S. banks in the American Customer Satisfaction Index and is the only large bank whose customer-satisfaction rating remains below pre-recession levels. Its score of 69 out of a possible 100 is unchanged from last year. The index is part of a annual report compiled by Ann Arbor, Mich.-based market-research firm ACSI.

Chiquita CEO Ed Longeran could receive a golden parachute worth $15.4 million if he loses his job after Brazilian companies Cutrale and Safra Group acquire the Charlotte-based produce company. The new owners haven't said if they will move jobs from Chiquita's Charlotte headquarters, where the company employs about 320, when the deal closes, which could be by year-end.

Concord city officials unanimously approved a decision to pursue a contract with NTE Energy when the city's 10-year contract with Duke Energy ends in 2019. St. Augustine, Fla.-based NTE is a privately held startup company that is building three natural-gas fired power generation plants, including one in Kings Mountain (Statewide, April).

Patrick Cannon will begin serving a 44-month sentence in a West Virginia federal prison on Tuesday. The former Charlotte mayor pleaded guilty to accepting more than $50,000 in bribes from a local businessman and undercover FBI agents. Cannon could return home or to a Charlotte halfway house in fewer than two years if he participates in a nine-month drug-abuse treatment program and is awarded good-behavior incentives available to federal inmates.

The city of Charlotte has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a ruling that would allow it to continue running Charlotte Douglas International Airport. An October 13 decision by a Superior Court judge barred a 13-member state-appointed commission from assuming control of the airport.

A federal regulator lowered Bank of America's rating for community lending and investing, citing evidence of illegal credit practices such as an April settlement that resolved claims the Charlotte-based bank overbilled customers for identity-protection products.

The N.C. Department of Transportation plans to add toll lanes to Independence Boulevard as early as 2016. Drivers would use NC Quick Pass, an electronic toll system that incorporates electronic transponders mounted to windshields that is already being used for Wake County's Triangle Expressway.

Duke Energy will move nearly 3 million tons of coal ash from its Sutton plant in Wilmington and its Riverbend plant near Charlotte to reclaim clay mines in Chatham and Lee counties. In addition to required synthetic liners placed under the ash, layers of clay in the mines, used by the brick industry, will help keep ash from infiltrating groundwater.

Johnny Harris, a prominent Charlotte real-estate developer and member of the Charlotte Airport Commission, said Thursday the matter of who runs Charlotte Douglas International Airport is less important than keeping costs low for its major carrier, American Airlines.

A company that provides IT consulting and business-process services plans to add 500 jobs in North Carolina by the end of 2018, including 150 in Charlotte. The new jobs will pay an average annual salary of $79,559. Teaneck, N.J.-based Cognizant, a Fortune 500 company, could receive a state grant of more than $5 million if it meets job-creation goals.

Charlotte-based Bank of America will pay a $250 million civil penalty to resolve a U.S. regulator's claims that it manipulated foreign-exchange rates. New York-based JP Morgan and Citibank were fined $350 million each, and all three banks were ordered to improve oversight of their foreign-exchange trading.

Charlotte-based Synco Properties and Austin, Texas-based Schlosser Development want to build apartments, a hotel, offices and retail shops on a 27-acre tract at Sharon and Colony roads near SouthPark Mall. If rezoning is approved, the 353-unit Colony Apartments, built in 1972, would be torn down.

Amazon will open for business next week at Concord Airport Business Park, and the online retail giant will begin hiring 150 to 200 people in January, Concord Mayor Scott Padgett said. Seattle, Wash.-based Amazon will operate a 225,500-square-feet "sortation center" that could eventually employ up to 300.